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Will an Archaeology degree give me a broad enough education?

Will an Archaeology degree give me a broad enough education?. Misconceptions of Archaeology. There are many misconceptions about the employability of an Archaeology graduate: That an Archaeology graduate can only work as a field archaeologist 

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Will an Archaeology degree give me a broad enough education?

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  1. Will an Archaeology degree give me a broad enough education?

  2. Misconceptions of Archaeology • There are many misconceptions about the employability of an Archaeology graduate: • That an Archaeology graduate can only work as a field archaeologist  • That an Archaeology degree is only a vocational education  • That an Archaeology graduate learns a narrower range of transferable skills than graduates in History and related subjects  • These can be quickly dispelled…

  3. Student employability profiles • Published by the Higher Education Academy (2nd revised edition, May 2007) • Co-authored by: • The Higher Education Academy • The Council for Industry and Higher Education • Graduate Prospects • The profiles identify the skills that can be developed through the study of each discipline…

  4. Transferable skills • The following two slides include the transferable skills and abilities that will typically be acquired by a graduate in Archaeology, Ancient History/Classics, and History • Equivalent and/or very similar transferable skills across the disciplines are presented in the same rows for ease of comparison

  5. Compare & Contrast… • All three subjects broadly share the vast majority of the transferable skills which their graduates acquire… • In other words: there is no need to think “If I study for an Archaeology degree I can only become an Archaeologist” any more than there is, quite rightly, no need to think “If I study for a History degree I can only become a Historian…”

  6. The multiple disciplines ofArchaeology • Archaeology has a long association with multiple disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences • As a result archaeological teaching and learning is highly multi-disciplinary • The diverse range of skills acquired through an Archaeology degree therefore facilitates graduates entering a diverse range of careers outside of the subject

  7. Vocational skills in Archaeology • An Archaeology degree does of course also provide a range of specialist and vocational skills: • Practising fieldwork and laboratory techniques • Appreciating the importance of recovering primary data through practical experience • Critically applying methodologies for quantifying, analysing and interpreting primary data • Interpreting spatial data, and integrating theoretical models, the traces surviving in present-day landscapes, and excavation data • Understanding the concepts and application of scientific methods used in collecting, analysing, and interpreting archaeological data

  8. Beyond field archaeology • And if you do choose to study Archaeology as a vocational training degree, there are a wide range of career options within the subject… • Beyond the various fieldwork jobs (e.g. excavation, supervision, project management, finds specialisms, surveying, remote sensing) there are also archaeology-focused careers in: • Research • Heritage management (local government and ‘national’ organisations such as English Heritage) • Museums (curation and education) • Conservation

  9. The following pages include examples of the careerpaths taken by recent Reading Archaeology graduates, both outside and within the subject

  10. Recent Graduate Profiles I • Ann-Marie Bonwick (formerly Collier): • Studied BA Archaeology, now working as PA to the Mayor of Wokingham • Jodi Davidson: • Studied BA Archaeology, followed by a PGCE (teacher training), and is now a Primary School teacher specialising in the teaching of French • Tim Ivil: • Tim studied BA Archaeology and then found employment working for the Metropolitan Police Service in New Scotland Yard

  11. Recent Graduate Profiles II • Marie Hayward: • Marie studied BA Archaeology & History, and is now working in the Press Office of the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich • Luke Bonwick: • Studied BA Archaeology, and is now working as a Heritage Consultant specialising in the recording of mills and historic buildings • Virgil Yendell: • Studied BA Archaeology, now employed as a Geoarchaeologist with the Museum of London Archaeological Service

  12. Recent Graduate Profiles III • Jenni Thurstan: • Studied BA Archaeology and is now working as an archaeologist for Oxford Archaeology • Rob Fry: • Studied BA Archaeology, then worked for the British School at Rome for 1 year prior to returning to a research post at Reading • Chris King: • Studied BA Archaeology, followed by further academic studies, and is now employed as a Lecturer at Leicester University

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